


beg for mercy

by Oddness101



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Child Abuse, Firelord Zuko (Avatar), Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Ozai (Avatar) is an Asshole, Post-Canon, Songfic, i think, maybe not korra compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24385573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oddness101/pseuds/Oddness101
Summary: In the wake of the war, a trial must be held for the former Phoenix King Ozai. Zuko is asked to speak, and takes the opportunity to say everything he's ever wanted to Ozai's face.Inspired by Kesha's "Praying"
Comments: 11
Kudos: 267





	beg for mercy

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when you listen to Kesha before you go to sleep. Some lines are directly from her song "Praying". It's 3:30 AM, so I'm sorry if there's any typos or weirdly worded parts. Sort of a late night vent fic, so Zuko might be out of character. Hope you enjoy anyway!

“They - they want me to do what?”

“They want you to speak at Ozai’s trial, Firelord Zuko.” The messenger shifted from foot to foot, refusing to look up from the floor.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought you said.” Zuko sighed heavily. “All right, when is the trial? A month or so away?”

The messenger winced. “Ah, well… it’s in three days, Firelord.”

_“What?!”_

* * *

“May I speak to the accused, a son to a disgraced father?” The spectators burst into whispers as Zuko locked his eyes to the front of the room, resolutely ignoring his father, chained to a pedestal and to the side.

The council, made up of leaders from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, seemed unsure. Odd. They had asked him to speak, after all. After a moment of deliberation, the Earth King nodded. “You may.”

For the first time in months, Zuko looked his father in the eye. The whispers of the crowd only grew, each person wondering what the Firelord would say. An apology, perhaps? An appeal for understanding?

“How does it feel, to know you have failed in everything you ever tried to accomplish?”

The world ground to a halt. 

“And to have been so close to success. It must sting, doesn’t it? You almost did it. For the first time in our lives, which of us wears the shackles, and which the crown?” Zuko released a harsh chuckle. The sound carried, cold and sharp, to the furthest corners of the stone hall. Ozai’s head did not lift.

“You almost fooled me, last time. I really believed I was nothing without your approval. But now, I can see a little clearer.” Zuko prowled towards the stone platform his father knelt on. A small, sardonic smile twisted his features. “Banishing me was the best thing you ever did for the Fire Nation.” His words were quiet, but it didn’t matter. They were the only sound in the room.

Zuko turned from his father, sweeping across the floor and speaking to the distance. “You branded my face and sent me, thirteen and half dead, to search out a fool’s hope, and I am forever grateful for it.” He stopped and pivoted, returning to looking at Ozai. He was looking back. Zuko laughed, somewhere between dry and brittle. “I’ll never forgive you, of course, but I _am_ grateful. If I had never left, how would I have learned the truth?”

“There was no peace or advancement spread by our armies. You sent teenagers to their deaths by the thousands, and for what? The dream of a half-mad Firelord a century ago?” The young Firelord paced, increasingly frantic, as he spouted his father’s sins. “You condemned Southern children to death for the crime of bending water, yet your own palace healer was a waterbender. You tried to burn an entire kingdom to the ground. What could have _possibly_ justified that in your sick, twisted mind?!” Zuko took a breath to continue, but froze for a moment. He closed his eyes and let the air out, slowly. If some fire escaped in the process, who could really blame him?

“No. Everyone knows your war crimes, but we both know all the truths I could tell. What you did to me, to Azula. We were children. All we knew was what you taught us, and what you taught us was cruelty.” 

Another deep breath, another tongue of flame. The Firelord looked directly into the prisoner’s eyes, stood tall, and gave a small smile. “It takes a special sort of pain, a special kind of sickness, to change someone’s spirit. I hope Agni deems you worthy of it. I burned and froze and starved and ached for it. For a new spark. Now that it’s been taken from you, I hope you realize that by nature, fire is life, not destruction. No matter what _you_ used it for.” 

The smile contorted into something vicious, and a savage spark appeared in his eye. “I won’t forgive you. Not for what you did to me, and not for what you did to my sister. But Agni still might. I hope you spend the rest of your life begging for his mercy, because you will _never_ get mine again. When you shot that lightning at me, I wish I had sent it back to your heart.”

Zuko’s expression settled into something spiteful and determined. “The only thing I have left to say is this: you made me strong, but you also made me good. I will be _so_ good, so much of everything you hated, that you will be nothing but a footnote on my page of history.” A smile, a soft laugh, as he says, “you taught me well, Father,” 

Zuko turned and strode towards the door. He heard the crowd erupt into chatter, and the officers shouting for order. He didn’t care. The only thing that mattered to him was reaching the carriage before his tears began to stain his robes.

* * *

Somewhere, miles away from her father and brother, Azula felt a strange sort of satisfaction. She felt as if some major wrong in the universe had been righted, as if the world had been gently placed back on its axis after being crooked for centuries. She didn’t feel the laugh bubbling up in her chest until after she heard it, but that happened a lot these days. She might know she was laughing, if her Zuzu was there to laugh with her. 

**Author's Note:**

> What'd you think? Any good for after midnight? This is my first posted Avatar fic, but I've been putting together an AU about what would have happened if Zuko and Iroh hadn't been discovered in Ba Sing Se, and their tea shop had stayed in business throughout the end of the war only to be visited by the entire Gaang for celebratory tea. Let me know if that's something you'd like to see!


End file.
